Random acts of kindness
by vampire princess33
Summary: Alicia is a prostitute who is stuck in the Salvatore Mansion without a way to return home until the rain stops. Damon Salvatore finds her and suprisingly helps her instead of taking advantage of her. Alicia has learnt from an early age that people will always harm her if they have the chance, but can she trust Damon? OC, based on the books, no lemons. All human. Complete one-shot.


**A/N: *IMPORTANT NOTE* I have been thinking about this story for a while and it didn't seem to be able to leave my head, so I decided to write it. It is based on the vampire diaries ****books****, so it might be a little confusing for those who have watched the show.**

**I don't want any flames by people who most likely are fans of the tv show. There is a reason why this fanfiction is under the Vampire Diaries books category. I would be happy to read your reaviews, though, even if they are criticising in terms of my writing style.**

**Disclaimer: I don not own Vampire Diaries, the books belong to L.J. Smith, but the Alicia is my invention.**

**Random acts of kindness**

_Florence, 1488_

Alicia stood by a window and looked at the heavy rain that hit harshly the glass surface. The drops slipped down and formed small streams on the windowpane and the only description that came to her mind was that they looked like tears.

It was night, the sky was dark and the rain was pouring. She couldn't see a thing through the window except from the constant fall of the rain.

The visibility was so low that she couldn't even distinct anything in this mist-blanketed landscape except of the spiral, winding road that led to the huge Italian mansion and was so slippery that no one would be able to descend it with such weather.

She heaved a long sigh and watched her breath form a frozen cloud of fog that settled on the cold glass, painting a different landscape there against the dim, smooth surface of the window.

The dull cloud soon dissipated only to dim again with her next exhalation of misty white air.

She repeated it several times, counting breaths and finding it the only way to tell how much time had passed since she was first dismissed at that window to wait until the thunderstorm stopped raging.

Alicia heard one of the maids that rushed past her, stopping only to give her some contemptuous glares saying that this cosmogony was a sign from God.

Alicia would have inwardly laughed with this if not for her empty stomach that protested loudly and her drenched clothes that sticked on her numb body like a second skin.

She was past just shivering now and her teeth hit uncontrollably together but none of the servants bothered to offer her any invitation to sit by the fire and dry herself up.

Obviously their fear for their master overcame their pitty for her, Alicia thought, supressing the urge to roll her eyes.

She was sure that Guiseppe Salvatore had given his servants particular orders not to let any of the prostitutes he hired for the night wander around his mansion; keeping up appearances seemed to always be so important for the rich and allegedly pious and respective men she was hired by.

However the fact remained the same: until this godamn rain stopped, she was stuck in there with nowhere else to go, and only one thing was sure at the moment: Alicia wasn't welcomed there.

Guiseppe was definitely a filthy man, not arranging a carriage for the girls he hired to entertain him for the night.

Alicia sighed in exasperation once again. Before one of the maids let her in the servant quarters with a soured expression on her mirthless face, she had stood for hours outside the house and now she was wet to the bone.

She wondered if her pimp would mind her catching pneumonia since he apparently didn't care when his girls were mistreated, when the door next to the window she was occupying swang open, dragging her out of her musings.

For a moment, the smell of the wet soil filled the ill-lit room and the pattering of the rain grew louder.

Then, a figure entered through the door, holding the hood of his mantel above his face in order to protect himself from the rain.

The newcomer threw the hood back and tossed his cloak that had darkened by the rain at a chair.

When the servants saw him, their expressions varied from surprise to disapproval and upset, and at first Alicia couldn't understand why.

Then, he seemed to notice her standing alone by the window and turned his attention fully on her, his eyes slitting slightly and titling his head back as if he inspected her.

He was a young man, looking just a year or two older than her but no older than eighteen, and his body was slim and seemed lithe but it was not muscular. His face was pale, with stunning and handsome, high features many of the men she knew would kill to possess, and midnight black hair, but what made it hard to look at him was his eyes.

They were so black that she couldn't tell where the pupil ended and the iris begun and had a velvety look with strange glints that made her feel as if she could fall into these two tunnels that led to a black abyss and keep on falling forever.

The other thing about his eyes that struck Alicia was the intentity of his gaze. He looked straight at her without any repulsion or shame and it seemed as if he could not only look at her but somehow see _through_ her.

For a momet she felt her breath hitch and it was hard to concentrate so she asked without giving any thoughts to who she was talking to, earning shocked gasps from the servants that watched them from close by.

''Who are you?''

The raven-haired man seemed to find her question amusing as he said casually ''I was ready to ask you the same question, _signorina_, but since you are in my house, don't you think you are the one who should introduce herself first?''

He flashed her a bright smile that only lasted for a second, but behind his carefree exterior and his light tone, Alicia saw a spark of frustation and- could it be concern?- in his fathomless eyes and the canny answear that came to her mind was soon forgotten.

''I'm Alicia. Just Alicia.'', she said, and while the appropriate and most decent thing for a girl to do at this era at the presence of a gentleman was to take a bow and lower her gaze, she looked fearlessly straight into those black eyes.

''Well, Alicia. My name is Damon Salvatore.''

So, he was that filthy man's, Guiseppe's sons, Alicia thought, but aloud she said.

''Shouldn't a noble man of your quality be using the main entrance of the mansion instead of sneaking through the door of the servants' quarters like a common thief?''

Alicia was playing with fire, she knew how dangerous it was to undermine and mock the son of the head of the household, but her anger for being left in the rain without any mean to get back home prevailed every sense of self-preservation as it seemed.

The man- Damon Salvatore, Alicia corrected herself- didn't seem offended or enraged by her question, however, which made her wonder where his previous frustation that was now carefully sealed behind a mask of polite interest and amusement had come from.

He brought one finger to his lips, saying with the hint of a smile forming beneath that long, elegant finger ''This is a secret, but I guess it's alright telling you. I have my own affairs to take care of and let's just say that I don't want anyone watching whenever I come and go.''

He looked meaningfully at the servants and they all hastened to scatter away from fear they would displease their master.

''That's a lot better.'', Damon said when they were alone, and Alicia wondered if it was just her imagination or Damon's shoulders really relaxed a little after that.

How strange of a noble man not to want an army of servile people at his service, ready to grant him any wish, Alicia thought.

''Well, now that I answeared your question, don't you think it's time you told me what you are doing here?''

Alicia didn't answear, thinking if she should tell Damon the truth and wondering how much he knew of his father's deeds already.

She unconsciously bit her lips, a habit she had never managed to break and winced slightly at the pain it caused her. She hadn't realised how swollen and sore from the cold and her previous...occupation her lips were.

The look of Damon's face told Alicia that her silence had just confirmed his suspicions.

As if he wanted to make sure, he grabbed hold of one of Alicia's hands, holding it getly yet firmly so she was not able to kerk herself free as he examined it with an unreadable expression on his face.

His lips became a tight, white line when he saw the ropeburns on her wrists that her long sleeves had been previously hiding.

''Come on'', he said somewhat abruptly, letting go of her hand and placing his own hand just inches away from her shoulder as if he wanted to lead her without really touching her ''You can't stay here. It's freezing cold and the rain won't let up until tomorrow.''

He saw that Alicia was torn and wary at his attitude, so he forced his hard expression to soften a little.

His voice was also a little more kind and it had lost its playful tone when he told her ''You don't have to worry. I will just take you somewhere you can rest and change clothes.''

Without any further delay, Damon led her through dark hallways and closed doors and grand staircases, all the time remaining in the shadows and signaling at her not to make a sound.

Finally, they reached the third floor and he pushed a door made of some kind of dark wood open and gestured her to follow him inside.

Alicia tried to supress the urge that told her not to enter a dark room she had absolutely no clue about and run away.

Maybe pneumonia was a better idea than staying there and letting Damon whom she had just met and judging from his father should be vile and have ulterior motives do whatever he planned on doing to her when he had her cornered somewhere she was pathetically isolated and defenceless.

Being a prostitute and treated like garbage for the latest years of her life, since she was thirteen years old, had taught Alicia a lot of things concerning the way the world worked and she would be a fool if she just got into that room and let him trap her there like cat cleverly traps a little mouse.

However, this moment of hesitation didn't last long.

Damon seemed to understand or at least guess some of her fears because he didn't waste any more time.

He moved past dark objects with silhouettes that were hard to distinguish, but he seemed to know exactly where he was going.

In no time, the room was filled with the gentle light of several candles and only then did Alicia decide to enter and looked around her for the first time.

It was a cavernous bedroom with every comfort one could imagine from a big carved fire place to an en suite bathroom, but Alicia wasn't impressed by the wealth and luxury that surrounded her. She took a few slow steps, noting everything about the space in case she needed to make a quick escape.

Her fingers grazed unconsciously the rich velvet and the soft silk of the cushions resting atop the seats of the high-backed chairs near the hearth, and then she turned around to look at Damon.

His eyes were looking elsewhere, fixed on everything except of her as if the sight of her alone was enough to disgust him and when he outstreched a hand holding a pile of clothes, he was careful not to touch any inch of the exposed skin of her hands.

Alicia felt incensed at this and she grabbed the clothes from his hands without even thanking him as she stormed towards the folding screen she had seen at the far corner of the room in order to dispose of her heavy, wet gown and corset.

Damon made no sound as if there was no one else in the room and it was unnerving to hear nothing but the rustle of fabric and the creaking of the logs in the fireplace. She sighed angrily that she would be the one to speak first, but she told herself that she would feel much more at ease if she knew exactly where her allegedly saviour was standing by the sound of his voice.

''So, don't you have anything to ask me? Aren't you curious about me?'', Alicia asked irritably.

''Not really'' Damon's cold and indifferent answear caught her off guard. Every man she had ever encountered was curious about her at first and then felt enthralled by her presence and he wanted to learn more and more until they were willing to pay any price to have her spend the night at their beds.

Alicia was so used to it by now that the fact Damon could be the exception and be able to resist her charm made her even more angry.

''There must be something you want to ask.'' she tried again and heard Damon sighing loudly, defeated as if she had managed to get under his skin while he said '' Alright, let's play your little game. I won't ask you the obvious which is what you were doing at me house tonight. Even a fool could understand you were visiting my _dear_ father'' - was that hatred behind his taunting words?- ''Instead I will ask you this: how did you bacome a prostitute?''

_He isn't ashamed or reluctant in the least to use the word prostitute in a conversation like all the other wealthy men I have seen that pose as literate and noble but are nothing but pretentious fools. I can give him that_, Alicia thought as she tried to find the right words to respond.

''I have been keeping my family alive since I was very young. I have three little brothers and a sister that is only ten and they have only me to bring money to the household. My mother can't work; she just sits in bed the whole day and she just is indifferent when she sees the other children slowly starve. I guess I started working in the streets and later selling my body to rich men because I can't let my little sister do it. I know how to take care of myself.''

Alicia paused. She had said more things that she initially intended to. Now that she thought about it, maybe it was the first time she spoke to anyone about her family in years and she didn't know why she decided to speak to Damon, of all people, a man she had just met and knew nothing about.

She pushed the folding screen aside and walked towards the fireplace.

The thought of her family made her want to get out of there as soon as possible. Her only four-yeared old brother would get terrified of the thunderbolts on stormy nights like this, and her other siblings would be hungry and worried about her.

Alicia retrieved the damp cape she had left by the fire and told Damon without looking at him.

''Listen, I have to go. My family needs me right now and I-''

Alicia couldn't finish what she was saying, because Damon's hands were wrapped around her wrists in seconds, swirling her around and forcing her to look at him. Her breath accelerated in alert of his proximity, and she squirmed without being able to get away from him as he waspressing the torn skin of her hands painfully.

She could swear that the expression of Damon'a face mirrored her own fury as he told her in a menacing hiss.

''You little fool. I told you you can't leave right now. You say you have a family you want to protect and so do I. What do you think my brother would think if he saw you? What would he think about our father then?''

By the tone of his voice, Alicia could tell that when he said the word 'family' he wasn't including his father into it.

The fury that had taken over Damon seemed to vanish as quickly as it had appeared and he looked calmer and more in control of himself after this sudden burst.

He let go of Alicia and gently helped her to sit on a chair near the hearth. Alicia was grateful for this, because in her breathless state she wasn't sure if she could do it herself.

Even after Damon's violent outburst, Alicia felt a reluctant respect towards him that increased when he said in a firm voice, his face dead serious ''I promise that I will arrange your transportation out of the mansion as soon as possible. If the rain ceases by the morning, a carriage will be waiting to take you home, but I need you to understand that no carriage owner is crazy enough to work with this weather no matter how much gold you give him.''

Damon's words sounded rational to her, and now that all the anger she had been directing at her odd saviour was drained, she felt too tired to complain any longer.

Alicia let Damon take care of her. He wrapped a velvet cloak around her that covered her borrowed nightgown and as she sat next to the fireplace she gradually felt the blood start to normally circulate into her veins once again, warming her up.

Damon took her hands and carefully applied cold compresses on her wounds after he had softly cleaned them with a cloth soaked in spirit.

Guiseppe Savatore had tied her up and hadn't bothered sparing her any unnecessary pain, but his son treated her ropeburns, his sensitive fingers applying no pressure at all as he relieved her sore wrists.

Then, he handed her a mug and she took it, wrapping her hands around it in order to warm them and heaving a small sigh of content.

The tea was so hot that it burnt her tongue, but she nonetheless took a few greedy sips, inhaling deeply at the hot steam coming from her cup in white little clouds.

Now that her wounds were bound and she could feel all of her limbs once again after she got rid of her rain-soaked clothes among with the numbness in her body, Alicia felt herself relaxing as minutes passed and the tention she had been feeling ever since she entered the mansion unraveled and left her feeling lighter like she hadn't felt in a while.

Sha was sitted comfortably on a chair and Alicia felt her thoughts drift away, following the road down the Salvatore mansion and reaching the dilapidated, small havel that was her home.

Vic, sweet, four-yeared-old Vic was afraid of the thunderstorms and he couldn't sleep unless Alicia put him to bed and told him everything was alright at nights like this. A thunder rolled in the distance and Alicia wondered what he and the other children were doing, if they had food and a lit fireplace, if they were worried about her.

She clenched the cloak tighter around her body with one hand and her other hand fastened on the arm of her chair, her knuckles becoming bone-white and her nails scraping frantically at the velvet fabric before she had to remind herself to keep it together. She forced her hand to unfist and dropped it limp on her lap, staring at it before she turned to look at Damon.

He was crouched down by the hearth, raking up the fire, his eyes fixed on the dancing flames that reflected on the pale valleys of his face and cast strange shadows under his eyes.

''Tell me about your brother. Why do you want to protect him?''

Damon darted her a quick look as if he wanted to see if she was being serious. At first he was silent and Alicia thought that she had pushed it too far this time and now Damon was shuting himself from her and wouldn't answear her question.

Not that she cared. Damon was just someone she met by chance and he clearly had to interest in her while she was forced to stay at his room for the whole night. Alicia doubted she would sleep at all tonight and it wasn't just due to her increasing worry for things back home.

Damon might seem not to be interested in her now, but Alicia had met a lot of men and no matter how kind and noble some of them looked at first, when it came down to it they all claimed the same thing from her whether she liked it or not.

However, something told her that Damon was different. Not just because he had taken care of her without taking advantage of her while he could easily have and no one would have told him anything, not even Alicia who was just a prostitute and no one would ask what _she_ wanted.

Maybe it was because she saw a part of herself in Damon, maybe it was that flame that burnt inside him that it was so similar to her own or their common wish to keep the people they loved safe.

Either way, Alicia realised that she actually wanted to hear Damon's answear.

With her peripheral vision Alicia watched him shifting his body away from the fire and leaning with his back against the other armchair.

Then, he sighed and said in a quiet voice that was somehow suitable to the whole scenery, his brief pauses filled with the reassuring creaking of the fire.

''His name is Stefan and he has just turned fourteen. He doesn't know any of these because he is good and so he wants to see good in people. That's why I want to keep the details of our father's personal life hidden from him while dear Father obviously doesn't bother with it.''

There was sarcasm and bitterness dripping from Damon's voice, especially when he referred to his father, but there was also something else.

''My little brother and I don't exactly have the perfect relationship. Most of the time I'm away to University and...I just want to make sure he is alright while I am here even if he doesn't know it or believes it. What would be the point in making Stefan hate our father? It would just make things worse when I'm away again''

Damon was struggling to find the right words and Alicia could tell that this wasn't usual for him, maybe even hadn't happen before in his life, trying to explain the situation of his family to someone he had just met. Damon was being honest and it bewildered him, maybe even scared him, but they both knew that there would be no point in lying to each other in this bizarre situation.

Alicia realised that what she had been trying to name in Damon's voice when he talked about his brother was concern and a love reluctant yet strong which she was sure Damon tried to deny even to himself and yet it was evident in his words and face if someone tried to look closely.

They both fell silent and Damon averted his gaze, turning his attention towards the fire once again. His expression was grim and yet somehow vulnerable, as if the barriers he kept around him had fallen all at once without him realising. The long shadows that cast on his face made him look younger, somehow, and more determined than ever.

He turned his faxe towards her, his eyes two black, smoldering flames and Alicia held her breath. In that instance, Alicia knew that she would give him whatever he asked from her and not because she was obliged to, but because he had managed to gain her respect and maybe even some of her trust.

The moment was gone too soon, however, but Alicia would never mistake that it didn't happen. Damon stood up with swift, elegant movements, looking straight at her and his expression said that he wasn't messing around and that there would be no use arguing with him.

''It's late. You should get some rest, time to go to bed and so on'' Damon said as he headed towards the window and drew the curtains that hid the rain-stained glass.

Alicia looked at him questioningly and he gave her a playful smile that broke through his previously sullen expression ''Alright, I rephrase. You will go to bed and I will sleep on the chair no matter how tempting it is to get pneumonia, darling.''

So much for Damon being serious for more than a few minutes.

''I'm not sick. Now that I think of it, I don't think I have even got the flu.'' Alicia said as she headed towards the bed, examining it.

It was a huge, double bed with soft feather pillows and heavy, satin sheets. Alicia ran her palm repeatedly over the soft cover of the bed, wondering how it would be to actually sleep in one of those beds.

''The bed is big enough for the both of us. I would feel guilty if I made you sleep on an armchair the whole night.''

Alicia said, not mentioning that most of the time she slept on an uncomfortable, shabby old mattress at home, with the wind howling through the crevices and the rain pattering beside her head from the holes of the ceiling.

Damon studied her for a moment, and then he shrugged of his mantel and kicked off his boots as he walked towards the bed.

He climbed on the bed and tossed away the sheets as his gaze mocked Alicia, telling her to join him if she dared.

Alicia knew what game Damon was playing even though she couldn't tell how exactly she knew it.

''I'm not afraid of you, Damon.'' she said, earning a slightly surprised look while she crawled on the bed. The matress sunk a little as she shifted her weight and drew the sheets back tp cover both of them.

She was lying on her side so that she would be facing Damon and even though she had told him that she wasn't afraid of him, it was difficult for her to break the habit of years of weariness and a deep ingrained belief that people always had ulterior motives and would take advantage of her if they had something to gain.

Alicia felt stiff at first, her breath sharp and wavering as she tried to convince herself that if Damon wanted to hurt her, he would have already done it.

He reached out with one hand to trace a pattern on her bandaged wrist that was resting between them on the pillow and Alicia immediately pulled back as if she had received an electroshock before she settled her head on the pillow once again, mentally scolding herself.

Damon again seemed to understand the struggle that took place inside her and he gave her a small knowing smile that somehow never managed to lose its sarcastic tint before he closed his eyes.

Alicia waited for a few more heartbeats which she felt pounding in her throat and ears before she mimiced him and shut her own tired eyes.

However, Alicia didn't let herself fall asleep. She felt defenceless with her eyes closed like this even though she thought that she had got over her worries that Damon might exploit her.

Instead she focused on Damon's breathing, memorising every inhalation and exhalation, feeling every little puff that made the distance between her and Damon's body seem insignificant.

Then, his breathing became slow and even and Alicia felt somewhat astonished when her eyes fluttered open and she saw that he had fallen asleep. Damon's face looked calm and open when he slept and Alicia found herself studying the young man with the sharp cheekbones for a few moments.

He had protected her without asking for anything in return and was even honest with her and treated her as an equal, something that happened to her for the first time.

Alicia cultivated no illusions that she would see Damon again after departing with the carriage he would arrange for her the next morning. He would go away to some faraway University for the sons of the society's most respectable members- another irony, because Guiseppe Salvatore was, in contrast to his son, one of the worst persons Alicia had ever met- and he wouldn't even remember Alicia.

However, she would remember him. Not as a good-looking man that had paid for her company but as someone who even though had nothing to gain from it, showed her an act of kindness no one else had when she needed it most.

Alicia heaved a small sigh and sat slightly up, giving Damon a soft kiss, just a brief brushing of their lips, really.

''Thank you for everything'' Alicia whispered softly, lingering close to his lips before she drew back because she wasn't sure if she would be able to say it the next morning.

Alicia lied back on the bed, this time resting on her back. Her tiredness overwhelmed anything else and soon she had fallen into a deep slumber with her and Damon's breathing coming out synchronised.

- _End_


End file.
